Hard-fought game comes down to last shot

One point separated Trona and Immanuel Christian in both teams' first Hi-Lo League game.The Trona girls basketball team beat Immanuel Christian 37-36 Tuesday in the Kerr McGee Center.“This one hurt,” ICS Coach Bob Smith said. “It's devastating when you don't feel like you played as a team, but Trona played well. I thought it was their best effort of the season.”

"This one hurt," ICS Coach Bob Smith said. "It's devastating when you don't feel like you played as a team, but Trona played well. I thought it was their best effort of the season."

Five points was the biggest lead any team had and that was in the first quarter when ICS jumped out to an early 7-2 lead.

Trona came back with eight unanswered points of its own, getting baskets from Liz Gammett, Keandra Renzlemen and Tia Renzlemen to give the Tornadoes their first lead of the game.

By the end of the first frame, the score was tied at 10-all.

Trona got all five of its points in the second quarter from Tia Renzlemen.

Although the Tornadoes only managed five points, the Crusaders couldn't take advantage.

Morgan Lieser, Tara Henderson and Elicia Hazlewood managed to scrap together five points of for Immanuel during a tough-shooting second quarter by both teams.

"We shot 23 percent in the first half on our 2-point shots and we were 1-of-12 on our 3-point shots," Smith said. "It just wasn't a great performance from us tonight. We have to learn a lesson from this and move on. We have Mammoth (today), so we have to forget about this one and win (today)."

The second half the game was just as close as the first 16 minutes of play. Tia Renzlemen scored eight straight points for the Tornadoes, while Vanessa Sandoval got steal after steal to give the Tornadoes a 27-26 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Smith went to a box-and-1 to slow Tia Renzlemen down, but other players began to step up.

Sandoval, Gammett, Keandra Renzlemen and Ashley Vassar all hit important shots down the stretch to take a slim 37-35 lead into the final 30 seconds of action. Trona went on to win 37-36 and start the Hi-Lo 1-0.

"We would take a couple good steps, then we would make a few missteps," Smith said. "We now have to get some help and take care of business for the rest of the season."

Tia Renzlemen led all scorers with 15 points and added 17 rebounds. ICS' Jennifer Mondragon led her team in scoring with 13 points and had 13 rebounds.

For ICS, Hazlewood had eight points and four steals, Lieser had eight points and four rebounds, and Tara Henderson had six points and 11 rebounds.

For Trona, Sandoval had four points and seven steals, Tia Renzlemen had four points and six rebounds, Gammett had four points and seven rebounds and Vassar had four points and two steals.